


BROTHERS

by meikahidenori



Series: Thunderbirds are go AU [16]
Category: thunderbirds are go
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-07-15 13:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7224106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meikahidenori/pseuds/meikahidenori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>short one shot chapters, all set at different age points. will notify which ages all of them are set at at the start of the pieces. This is a collection so they don't have too much in common with each other other than just brotherly moments that don't involve rescues or are too short to do a a full rescue fiction. there's no limit to the chapters as they are going to be updated at random, mostly when i have a story that isn't long enough to have it's own spot. so feel free to check on this one often encase I add a new short one off! (sorry if they seem a little John centric, I like to think when he's not in space he's a pretty good brother, that and when i write rescue stuff he tends to not end up in them much so it's a fair trade off.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. JOHN

PART 1 JOHN (just encase anyone is wondering about their ages for this, Scott is 13, John 12, Virgil 9, Gordon 8 and Alan is only 3.)

It had been a big day and it had taken some effort, but Jeff was happy to finally be able to leave the house for an important board meeting in Cairo, something he didn't really want to do but ultimately because he was head of the company he had to be there. The boys were all in bed - some requiring more effort than others – but all in all, his mother was going to have a very quiet night on her hands and should be fine for the next twenty four hours before he could fly back home. 

A quiet night, depended on who you were in the Tracy household. Jeff had a bedroom on the other side of the house, away from his sons as to give them their own space, so for him every night was a quiet night unless someone was ill. For his second eldest son, a quiet night meant something else entirely.

“Jonathan...wake uuuup!”

John groaned. Who on earth told Alan to call him that? Had to be Gordon.

“Johnny!” Alan climbed onto his older brother's bed, which took a bit of effort and a few books on the floor and tried to shake him awake.

“Didn't I put you to bed over and hour ago?” John mumbled, rolling over and poking his littlest brother in the ribs, making him squirm.

“''Es.” Alan grumbled. “But 'dare's a monster under da bed.”

John could have told Alan there was a monster under his bed every night he came to wake him up, but he knew it wouldn't achieve anything. Alan was too little to understand sarcasm and irony yet. Besides, John didn't mind the little ritual he had to go through to get the youngest of his brother's to sleep, it had become over the past year quite fun. 

John reached over the side of his bed and sitting on top of a pile of unwashed clothes was a small torch, which he grabbed as he sat up. Alan grabbed John's other arm and tried to pull him along, so John just let himself be lead to the bedroom next door to his where Alan froze at the doorway, clinging to his brother tight.

“Wait here Alan, I'll go see if I can find them and maybe scare them away.”

Alan nodded and let go of his brother's arm, only to cling to the door frame encase he had to hide behind it encase a big hairy creature leapt out from under the bed. John knew the score, he had to play the hero who goes into the dark with the flash light as a weapon that evaporates the baddies that terrified his little brother.

He crept into the room, holding the light source like a sword. It was his fault really, Alan never used to be afraid of monsters until John let him sit up and watch some old television shows like 'Doctor Who' and some 'Star Trek', shows that had amazing aliens in really silly costumes and special effects - although for the three year old they where as real as night and day.

John pretended to hear noises and paused for theatrical affect, noticing Alan had hid behind the door frame and was only visible enough to be peaking around encase the creatures tried gobbled his brother up. John dropped heavily on all fours and carefully poked the dangling bed sheets that touched the floor, smiling to himself when he heard his little brother's intake of air. It was all about the anticipation, the thrill of surprise. But no matter what you do, it was important to make sure Alan knew it was safe and the theatre of it had to always be the same.

“GOTCHYA!” John whispered as loud as he dared, at least, loud enough for Alan to hear. He had thrown the sheets up over the bed to revel the cleanest underside he'd ever seen. The complete opposite to his own, but then Alan didn't have many things yet that he wanted to hide from his siblings. Give him time and he'd most likely have a room as messy as his and Scott's. John sat up on his knees and scanned the room with the torch, pretending to be on the hunt for the imaginary. Alan's heart leapt as he watched his older brother spring up and onto his bed, waving the beam of light as if he was slicing the air. Alan watched him pause and look around carefully until his eyes fell on the wardrobe. Alan started to move around the corner more, entranced in his brother's acting, completely believing his older sibling was tracking and hunting something he couldn't see around his room.

John bounced of the bed, lithe and agile, pouncing on the wardrobe doors, flinging them open. Alan couldn't see what was going on where he always stood in the door frame, but judging by the noise and the banging John made he knew he was wrestling with whatever might be lurking inside. Alan flinched and looked frightened when he saw the torch his brother had roll out across the floor, and almost turned to sprint down the hallway when John burst out of the wardrobe fighting what was to anyone else an empty shirt, but to Alan, was the invisible creature from his nightmares.

Eventually the shirt was thrown on the floor, John rolling and grabbing the flash light and aiming it at the item of clothing as if the light would make the monster vanish. Exhausted from all the pretending, he rolled onto his back, flopped his limbs down and started laughing.

“All gone now Alan. It's won't be back.” John grinned in the dark.

Alan stepped back into he room tentatively and then ran quickly to the safety of his brother's arms as John sat back up. Alan hugged him tightly until he was certain it was safe to let go. John then picked Alan up off the floor, stumbling slightly as Alan wasn't as light as he used to be for him to carry around and sat him down on his little bed before he struck a heroic pose. This made Alan laugh and grab his bedsheets, pulling them up to his face to hide his giggles.

John then tucked Alan in as he snuggled into the mattress and whispered softly as he kissed his brother's forehead, “They'll have to do better than that to out wit me, until then Alan, you're as safe as can be.”

“Tank you John.” Alan mumbled as he began to doze off to the land of dreams.

John ran his fingers through Alan's hair till he was certain he was asleep before picking up the torch and heading back to his own room, leaving Alan's door open so the light of the hallway illuminated it enough to keep the monsters out.

Yawning, he headed back to his own room and tossed the torch onto the clothes pile again and before climbing back into bed, fiddled with his alarm clock. He needed to be up early afterall.

Hands shot out from underneath his bed to grab at his ankles, but John was already ready for them and was quick to stomp down hard with his bare foot onto a set of cold fingers.

“OW! Hey that's not fair!”

“Sorry Gordon, but you pull this every time I put Alan back to bed. You're pranks are getting old.”

His other younger brother Gordon, poked his head out from under the bed. “You cheated.”

John rolled his eyes. “No, you're predictable. If you want to prank me you need to try a lot harder.”

Gordon started to crawl out from his hiding spot. “What do you keep under there? It's smells.”

“Usually it's the sandwiches Grandma makes for school, but I saved a mouldy squashed banana under there, just for you today.”

Gordon looked horrified and shouted, “EWW! I PUT MY HANDS IN THAT!” he looked around for something to wipe his contaminated paws on. John grabbed them and redirected them to Gordon's own clothes, smearing his brother's PJ's in rotten squashed fruit. “EW EW EW EW YOU'RE SO GROSS, JONATHAN!” 

John tripped Gordon over and then sat on him pinning his eight year old brother to the ground, amongst all the hard books and other potentially sharp objects that were on his bedroom floor. He growled, making Gordon's cheery blonde hair stand on end, “Don't You EVER call me Jonathan again! I can just about live with Johnny, but ONLY from Alan and Scott. Otherwise it's just John, Got that tuna brain?”

“Get off me John!” Gordon wailed.

John took a deep breath and relaxed his grip. “Why are you in my room again anyway? Did you wet the bed or something?”

“No, and I swear I didn't wet the bed the last time! Someone must have tipped water on me while I slept!”

John relented and stood up, hauling his little brother to his feet by the back of his PJ's. Gordon was quite short for his age and pretty light, unlike Alan who, while small in size, weighed like two sacks full of potatos. Gordon maybe a practical joker, but he couldn't lie worth his own teeth. If he didn't pee his bed, John could believe him. It's not like John had ever done so either and had ended up waking up with wet sheets without having any idea how as he didn't sleep in his own bed that night.

“Go clean up and put clean PJ's on, then go to bed, Gordon.” John sighed. “Do it before I have to march you into it.”

Gordon poked out his tongue. “You'll have to get Virgil out of my room first.”

“Virgil? What's he doing still up?”

“He was jumping up and down on my bed. He's probably ruined the springs by now if his head hasn't gone through the ceiling.”

“Just... Go clean up... Do it if you still want me to get up and time your laps in the pool in the morning.” John took a deep breath and walked out of his room and to the one across the hall where Gordon usually slept. His bedroom had views of the pool and the biggest beach closest to the house.

“You know that's a hollow threat Johnny, you ALWAYS help me with my swimming training.”Gordon said to him before heading off for the bathroom.

“I don't know why.” John muttered to himself as he shook his head. He should ask Scott if he would do it, but Gordon has asked him specifically because he wouldn't make fun of him when he couldn't do a stroke properly. Despite the one year age gap, John was more mature than his older sibling, but then he had to be. It was sort of expected that he was now and he never really thought too much about it, except along the lines of 'mum's gone, Dad's not ok and we could be sent away from each other if we all keep acting like horrible little brats.' He took over every duty with Alan and was probably the only eight year old at the time who could change a nappy faster than any mother could. Jeff hadn't done anything to stop it either, as he knew that he had to take up a new line of work and whatever it happened to be he wasn't going to always be there and in one small way appreciated what John did. Sure, it will be a problem he'd have to deal with later, but while the boys were small it didn't matter. 

John opened Gordon's bedroom door and got a pillow hurled at his head. Virgil looked mortified that he had hit him instead of Gordon. He slunk down on the bed, knowing that he was in a lot of trouble for still being up and fooling around.

“Virgil, Go to bed.”

“No.”

“Please?”

His nine year old brother's eye narrowed. “No. You're not dad, you can't tell me what to do.”

“Dad's not home. I'm going to have to do.”

Virgil pouted. “No. I'm not going anywhere, and you can't make me.”

John didn't even give his brother a chance to think about throwing another pillow at him as he launched himself at his sibling, knocking him off the bed and onto the floor, grabbing him around his ankles and trying to drag Virgil out of the room. Virgil fought back, kicking John hard in the chest and punching him on the arms when he got them within reach. Virgil wasn't a weakling either, he had punches that left pretty coloured bruises wherever they landed. One swift kick to the face and John was forced to let go and fall backwards, grabbing hold of his nose.

“What's going on here, and WHY aren’t you three in bed?”

John tried to blink his vision clear from pain so he could look at his other brother Scott, who was holding Gordon by his ear. He must have being doing something he wasn't have supposed to, because even in clean PJ's, Gordon's face was red with embarrassment of being caught red handed.

“I would be, if these two did what they were told.” John sounded muffled, he wasn't game enough to move his hands from his face. He felt like he had a runny nose and was pretty sure Virgil's mule kick made him bleed.

“I'm going to only say this once, GO TO BED!” Scott raised his voice to the tones that almost matched their father and both Gordon and Virgil scrambled, Virgil darted for his own room and Gordon hit his mattress like a rock sinking into a puddle. “That means you too John.” he added in a more nicer tone that still sounded like a warning. He helped his brother off the floor and walked him out of the room, and gave Gordon a glare as he heard him start to giggle at John also being in trouble before turning off the light and slamming the door shut.

John noticed Scott was trailing his doona around, but Scott was quick to grab his brother's face to inspect the damage in the light of the hallway. “There's a little bit of blood, but nothing serious. I'd wear a long sleeve shirt tomorrow though if you don't want Grandma asking where you got those bruises from.” he pointed to an area of huge growing black marks on John's arms.

“Gee, thanks Scott.”

“Don't mention it. You need to stop doing this every night, you get absolutely no sleep whatsoever and quite frankly none of them are ever going to appreciate it.” Scott just laid it out plain and straight. “You're not mum and never will be. Get a grip man, Alan's even got to grow up sometime, you can't keep rescuing him from 'monsters' forever, some day he's going to realise you're not a hero and just like the rest of us.”

John removed his brother's hand from his face and looked at the floor boards. He knew Scott meant well but sometimes he wished he wasn't so direct and blunt about it. He didn't say anything, there wasn't much to say in his defence that Scott wouldn't be able to throw back at him.

Scott's feature's softened and he relaxed. “Just try and get some sleep John. They'll be all in you face and turning your hair white early all day tomorrow. You know they will.” he did worry about his sibling, but there was sheer thirteen year old arrogance that prevented him from being as affectionate as he should be. That's what Jungle speed in the afternoon tomorrow was for, wither John liked it or not. Scott loved that game as it was the only time he could hug his brother without feeling silly for doing so and make it look like he was beating him up instead. He needed to be the big brother you didn't mess with after all and tried to maintain that image, even around the brother he felt the closest to.

John wasn't really listening to Scott any more, he seemed to be mentally elsewhere.

“Are you listening to me Johnny? I said you need to go to bed.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry Scott.” John yawned and turned for his own room. He stopped in the doorway and asked, “Why are you changing your bed sheets in the middle of the night?”

Scott gave his brother a dark stare. “None of your business. Just go to bed.”

“Whatever. If your hiding dirty magazines I'll tell Grandma.” John smiled. He had 'The Speech' at the same time Scott did and knew his brother didn't pee the bed either unless he had been up all night reading things he shouldn't have. That was at least one mystery solved.

“Fine, which one do you want?” Scott growled. 

“The one that has the lady covered in tattoos. She's really pretty.”

Scott rolled his eyes. “That's not even a dirty magazine.”

“I don't care, she's still pretty.”

“You always like the red heads.” Scott blew a raspberry. “Just don't even think of telling Grandma or I'll shove you into the pool when your helping Gordon with his swimming lessons.”

“Deal.” John's smile broadened. “Besides, I won't have to now that Gordon won't ever be hiding under my bed again.” he left his brother in the hallway to figure out what he meant. Instead, Scott just retorted with his usual.

“You still can't replace mum you know!”

John crawled back into his own bed and pulled the covers over his head. Thanks a lot Scott, John shut his eyes tight. Scott always used the 'you not mum' argument when he couldn't think of anything else to fight with John over. John knew he wasn't mum. Mum would sing to them lullabies, give them lots of cuddles and read stories to them before bed. It still hadn't occurred to the others that Alan will never get to have any of those things and the more they told John Alan's got to grown up he was determined to put his foot down with 'why should he?' Growing up is over rated.

The only reason he had to was because no one else would. Someone had to try and keep Virgil and Gordon from wreaking the place like the little whirlwinds of destruction they are. Someone has to make Alan feel he was a part of this family because he was the youngest and missed out on the things his other brother's were allowed to do. Someone had to make sure Scott didn't get into too much trouble with his rebellious streak because Mum wasn't there to stop dad going completely bananas when it came to dishing out punishment. 

He really did miss her. Even now he couldn't even look at himself in the mirror without seeing her face reflected back. Scott did worry about John a lot and he knew it wasn't because he was trying to make sure his brother's didn't miss out on having someone like her, it was the plain fact that John didn't outwardly grieve for her like the rest of them had. Even their father broke into tears when she was reported as missing and even baby Alan still knew something was wrong as he never stopped crying, the fact that he only stopped when John held him made sure that John never really ever had a chance. He had to be the brave one who didn't cry so everyone else could.

That didn't mean that he didn't when things got too much for him.

Why couldn't any of them just call him 'John'? He hated being called Jonathan. Even his father didn't call him that because he knew how much it hurt him. Jonathan, was what mum called him and only she was ever allowed to. They didn't understand that the reason he tries to do things for them was so they didn't call him that and forget the name ever existed, except on his birth certificate. Just once he'd like his brothers to listen to him the same way he did for them.

Something heavy was moving on his bed and frustrated, John flung the sheets off his head so he could tell off who ever it was for not being in bed. He had enough of Virgil and Gordon's nonsense for one night. Last thing he wanted was to have them see him start crying, he knew if they did he'd never hear the end of it.

Alan sat on his chest on top of the sheets. John sighed loudly, letting his defences down. It was funny, every time he thought of their mother, Alan was always there waiting for John in one way or another. It was almost like Alan had some sort of mental link with John's most deepest thoughts.

“Ev'y one's too loud.”

“Everyone should be in bed.”

Alan's head shook. “Scott's gone to get grandma 'cause Gords and Virg are pillow fighting and he can't get them to stop.” he then looked at John puzzled. “Why are you crying?”

“Huh? I'm not crying.”

“'Es you are.”

John held out his arms and flapped his palms, indicating to Alan he wanted a hug. His littlest brother was more than happy to climb in under the sheets to cuddle him. John's hugs were the best ones, warm and inviting and never judging.

“Ok so I am. What are you going to do about it squirt?”

“Give you lots a hugs.”

John smiled and cuddled his brother tight. “Alan, can you promise me one thing? Pinky swear?”

Alan's head craned to look at his brother. “'Es.”

“Don't ever call me Jonathan or Johnny. Just John.”

“But Gords -” Alan started to protest before John cut him off.

“-Will get pounded into the ground if he ever calls me that again.” Alan fell quiet. He had seen John beat up Gordon before, and the end result wasn't very nice. Sure John wasn't strong like Scott or Virgil but the rage that hid behind those hazel green eyes could be more crueller than the two of them together if John got angry. Luckily, it was really rare John lost his temper, usually keeping it pretty self contained.

“I promise.” Alan tucked his head into John's chest and started to gently snore.

“Thank you Alan... and thanks mum for giving me a special little brother.”


	2. GORDON

GORDON (ages of brothers: Gordon 14, Virgil 15, John 18, Scott 19 and Alan 8)

“Gordon, turn the music down.”

Gordon could hear the banging on his bedroom wall coming from the direction of Virgil's room. He turned up the volume of his 'Red Hot Chilli Pepper's' CD John had got him for his last birthday so the entire room started to vibrate. The glass on the windows could visibly be seen flexing in and out of their fixings. He continued to dance around as he picked up stray items of clothing off the floor and folded them into is his draws. Nothing said spring cleaning like loud music and dancing to a beat while you worked.

“COME ON GORDON I'M TRYING TO STUDY!” Virgil's voice boomed. “I've have exams next week and I need to be ready for them!”

Gordon ignored his older brother and turned the music up on full. “YEAH! THIS IS HOW YOU CLEAN!”

He didn't hear his bedroom door opening as the music was so loud. “Computer, mute please.”

The music suddenly died.  
“Hey! I was listening to that Scott!” Gordon snapped.

“Some of us need peace and quiet, Gordon.” Scott grumbled. He looked like hell had warmed over. He had just come back from a few months service in the gulf of New Mexico and had had enough of loud noises and shouting people to last him a lifetime. The US Air-force was still as strict as ever, and even tougher on anyone who thought themselves a hot shot like Scott did. “Besides, Virgil needs to study and he can't do that with you banging around inside next door to him all day. These exams could make all the difference on his university applications.” he gave Gordon a smile. “How about you go do something constructive outside? Maybe pull a prank on John? You haven’t done that in a while.”

“That's because he gets me back twice as hard. It's no fun.” Gordon pouted.

Scott rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I dunno, just please go and be noisy somewhere else?”

“Oh alright, if it keeps everyone happy.”

“I didn't mean it like that and you know it.”

“Yeah yeah.” Gordon waved it off. “I'll go down the beach and see if there's any surf.”

“You do that.” Scott, satisfied, left Gordon alone in his room. Gordon walked over to his bedroom window and looked out past the pool and to the great big beautiful beach that lead into the ocean and off the island.

“The weather seems nice for a swim. I doubt I’d get a board out there though.” He shrugged. Anything was better than being inside all the day with both Captain grumpy pants and Mr. I’m going to have a brain explosion.

He grabbed a towel from the hallway cupboard and headed down the stairs into the living room where Alan was sitting on one of the chairs upside down with a look of sheer concentration on his face. John was there with him watching Alan carefully.

“What are you doing?” Gordon asked, walking over. 

“We were playing 'Jenga'.” John gave Gordon a semi-amused smile. “Right now I have no idea.”

“SHHHH.” Alan hissed. “I'm trying to see where I can take the next piece from. It requires the utter most skill and concentration.”

“Something you clearly both lack yes?” John's expression changed to something that clearly didn't find Gordon’s statement amusing while Alan was too engrossed in whatever he was doing. “You know you're going to knock that over with the way your sitting.”

“No I’m not, I’ve played this whole game like this so far, the blood rush to my head helps me think.”

“And you let him do it because?”

John let out a sigh. “He bit me.”

“Gee Alan, we've got proof you finally are some sort of animal!” Gordon joked. “Don't forget your rabies shot Johnny!”

“You're not funny in the slightest Gordon.” Alan huffed. He tried to readjust his position and slipped, his legs falling forwards towards the floor, clipping the coffee table as he landed. Wooden 'Jenga' blocks flew everywhere.

“OW!” Alan wailed, as both Gordon and John started laughing.

“You're such an idiot little brother.”

“For once I agree with Gordon. You were being really silly. You're lucky you didn't get hurt.” John helped him up off the floor and started collecting the scatted pieces. “I win, by the way, that means you give me half your Halloween candy when we are on holidays in Vermont this year.”

“But Gordon distracted me!”

“No butts, a deal is a deal kiddo.”

“AWW John that's not fair!” Alan shoved John and got a playful one back in return, stupidity completely forgotten. He started to help pick up the pieces when he noticed Gordon's towel. “Hey! Are you on your way to the beach? Can I come along too?”

“Only if your baby sitter minds.”

“I'm not a -” John began to say until he looked at Alan's excited and expectant face. “FINE. Don't go in the water till I come down and supervise ok? Dad, Grandma and Scott will go nuts if you do.”

“Aww it's ok Johnny, I wouldn't want you getting into trouble with them.”

“It's not that I’m worried about, it's the fact Scott will try his new commando moves out on me if you do. I know you didn't see him wrestle Virgil the other day for fun but sheesh...” John visibly shuddered. Gordon knew it would have been pretty bad and full on if it made his second oldest brother cringe at the very thought of it. Gordon figured if it came to that he'd be on John's side, heaven knows the tall skinny bastard needed all the help he could get when everyone else was stronger than he was. Gordon may not have the muscles his brother's had but boy had he been training them and he was rather fit and proficient in defending himself.

“I'll wait by the pool for you Alan, and we can walk down together and give John time to join us.” Gordon ruffled his little brother's hair. Alan grinned and sprang up so he could bolt up the stairs and grab his swim trunks and a towel. 

“Hey! You could at least help- Oh never mind.” John's shoulder's sagged. “Just give me long enough to clean this mess up and let Grandma know where we are going ok?”

“Sure thing Johnny.”

“Please stop calling me that Gordon. I really hate it.”

“I know, that's why I keep doing it.” Gordon grinned evilly and walked towards the door, making way for Alan who had run back down the stairs and was panting really hard in an effort not to be left behind. Gordon wrapped his arm around his little brother who was a few inches taller than him and lead him out of the house. There was times Gordon didn't like being the shortest, but when it came to being the best swimmer and scuba diver in the family he was always glad his stature gave him an edge.

The walk past the pool and down towards the beach was a nice one, very scenic and long enough to allow you to dry in the sun on the way back to the house after a good morning swim. Gordon always found it interesting how his brother Alan was always looking up at the trees and enjoying the breeze as they walked, also occasionally pausing to watch a bird rustling in the branches. It's was almost like walking along with Virgil when he had his easel and decided to paint the ocean, sort of dreaming and distant. The far away look was one that he had also seen on Scott's face when he was staring at the stars from the lounge room balcony and the way he walked was a confident and graceful swagger that clearly had been from being around John too much. His brother, he mused was a little piece of all of them. He also had not shut up the whole time, chatting endlessly about some movie he wanted to see but wasn't allowed to because it was R rated. He was also the only person who could out talk Gordon, who was the one who had the biggest mouth out of them all.

“So anyway in this movie, the zombie bride eats the vampire queen to gain all her powers and then the werewolf army crashed the wedding and a fight breaks out with the lizard men who apparently also live on the planet -”

“I honestly don't know how you can watch that stuff.” Gordon interrupted.

“I say the same thing about the sport channels you and Virgil watch.” laughed Alan, the human couch potato. “Besides, I can't watch it anyway so I can only read about it. But I bet my imagination is better than the film anyway.” he seemed to be thinking. “Did you know Virgil got a letter from some fancy technical university? He was so excited until he realised he needed a average of ninety seven percent just to get into the joint in robotics and mathematics. His maths skills are terrible, but I hope he gets a place.” and there it was, Alan in a nut shell. Gordon was pretty sure the kid never stopped to breathe once he had started.

“Finally! Wow that surf looks great! I really wish I did bring my surfboard now.” Gordon seemed to brim with excitement now the salty water lay out in front of them into the horizon.

“It's beautiful.”

Gordon threw down his towel and pulled off his shirt. “Last one in eat one of Grandma stale scones!” he proceeded to run down the beach sand and towards the water.

“Hey wait Gords! We have to wait till John gets here!” Alan called out after him.

“Pfft! Like I’m going to wait for that worry wart!” Gordon called back. He dived right into the water and resurfaced and looked at his brother who hadn’t moved from where he had been left on the beach. “It's not like John has ever swam in his whole life anyway, what would he do if we started to drown? He couldn't come in and rescue us. You got to grab the bull by the horns and look it dead in the eyes Alan, danger is what makes life interesting!”

“Yeah right Gords, that's what you said when we went ab-sailing in Canada. If John and Scott hadn't been already at the bottom, Virgil would have been splattered all over the place. Sometimes you can be really irresponsible Gordon!”

“Your as bad as Scott, Alan, you're absolutely no fun!” Gordon called back before diving under again.

This time he swam out further and surfaced too close to a loose patch of floating seaweed. He couldn't see Alan's face expressions any more, but he could see his brother was dancing around the beach wildly waving his arms around. Pfftt, whatever, there isn't any sharks around and that's the only thing that's remotely dangerous out here. Gordon dived again and this time when he tried to surface he could only get his head above the water, his feet getting tangled in some of the seaweed. Even the best of swimmers can make the poorest judgements, and clearly Gordon had made a mistake swimming as far out as he had. The tide pushed him along into the current and the waves kept pulling him under tangling him further into the seaweed.

For the precious few seconds that he did manage to get his head above the water he could just make out his other brother on the beach before being dragged under the waves again. He started to feel light headed as more salt water filled his lungs and was barely hanging in there when he could feel someone trying to pull him free. He wondered if this is how there mother felt when she went missing under the ocean deeps all those years ago. The feeling of weightlessness as you floated around and the the crushing pressure of the water further in the briny deeps as you began to sink below.

There was a sharp pain in his chest, pressure on his wrist and the feeling of his lungs being forced open and the sudden desire to vomit.

Gordon sat up abruptly and started throwing up all the water he had swallowed. It was the grossest thing he had ever tasted. Alan quickly grabbed him, hugging him tight and John flopped on his back on the sand beside him.

“What the hell happened?” Gordon managed to splutter.

“Don't you EVER do that again Gords!” Alan hit his older brother hard on the shoulder before hugging him tight again.

“Ditto.” John managed, pinching his brother's bare skin to get a yelp and a sudden squirm. “You owe me big time.” John sat back up and grabbed his brother in a head lock and roughly gave him a noogie which Gordon tried to fight his way out of but had no energy to fend off his older sibling. Eventually John let go and got on his knees and nodded at Alan, who lifted Gordon up enough so that John could pull his arms around his neck and then piggy back him up off the ground as he stood.

“What are you doing?”

“Carrying you back to the house. You not walking anywhere.”

As they walked back up the sand, Alan collected all their things before the three of them headed back. Half way to the house along the track, Scott and Virgil were heading out towards the beach and walked into them.

“You guys weren’t gone very long, we though you'd at least be there long enough for us to join you.” Scott said, walking around John to get a good look at Gordon who had shut his eyes and lent into his brother's back, John's wet singlet sticking to his face. Gordon knew that he was in so much trouble right now he wanted to pretend he was asleep and could be magically teleported anywhere but where he currently was.

“We had a race down the beach and amongst the dunes and Gordon beat me so I dunked him in the water.”

“Really?”

“Yup.” John popped the 'P' sound. “He cheated, didn't he Alan?”

Alan just nodded. If John was going to tell a huge whopping fib, he wasn't about to stop him. Gordon thanked his brother's silently in his head that they were trying to spare him any sort of punishment. Almost drowning was enough of a lesson for one day.

“Anyway we tired him out so I'm just going to put him to bed. Alan might join you though if he wants.”

Alan thought about it and shook his head. “I feel like playing 'Jenga.'”

“Suit yourselves.” Virgil and Scott looked at each other, shrugged and continued down to the beach.

“Boy are you one lucky duck, Gords.” Alan smiled after their other brothers had left them.

“Don't expect me to cover your arse again in a hurry, this was an exception.

As much as he thought his brothers were boring from time to time, he was always grateful they were always looking out for him. Gordon smiled faintly as he was carried back the rest of the way to the house.


	3. JUNGLE SPEED

JUNGLE SPEED (Scott 23, Virgil 20, John 22, Gordon 19, Kayo 16 and Alan 14)

“I'm not playing that stupid game with you!” John groaned, rolling over pulling the covers over his head.

“But it's family game night, John and it is Virgil's turn to pick!” Gordon pleaded from John's bedroom door.

“I just come down from space, the last thing I want to do is run around like a moron and have all of you try to flatten me!”

Scott also stood in the doorway, arms folded. “That's because you're in space too much, and not getting enough exercise and fresh air. Now, don't be a lazy lump and join us.” Scott usually had sympathy for his brother but not tonight. They haven't had a decent bonding moment together in months with all the rescues and all of them were in need of something fun to keep them from falling apart under the weight of the workload. A distraction was called for. Scott liked the idea that Gordon proposed of a family game night years ago when they were kids and had decided to reinstate it. Unfortunately it meant games that were already lying around the house because no one had the chance to get off the island for personal time to buy anything new.

Scott loved it purely as it was a chance to make his brothers feel good about themselves and also a chance for him to spend time with his closest aged sibling, time he sorely missed once they both went to study and had jobs before their father sprang International Rescue on them all. He remembered even though John used to have the littlie's following him around everywhere, they still did the usually brotherly things like blow up the neighbour’s cat with a bottle rocket – it was an accident – kept secrets from their dad about Scott's brief period of rebellion and smoking and John's love of space tattoos. It was also the only time Scott got to let his guard down and be a real brother, and not some over protective worry wart.

“Go away.”

“I'll call Virgil in here and he'll drag you out of bed. I'm sure Kayo who's standing in the hall with us would love to see you in your PJ's.” Scott threatened.

“Alright, give me five minutes.”

“Ok, but if your not with us by them I have given you advanced warning that an attack from Virgil is imminent.”

“Are you sure he's going to join us?” Kayo asked Scott as she followed both him and Gordon down the hallway.

“Oh he will,” Smiled Scott. “'Cause he knows Virgil can drag him all the way down the stairs without any effort.”

“Won't that hurt?” Kayo looked slightly mortified. She thought game nights were supposed to be fun. For John it seemed like mild torture and they all enjoyed it at his expense.

“Not as much as Virgil pinning you to the floor in a game of 'Jungle speed'.” Gordon added his two cents. “I don't really blame him, last time me and Virgil managed to shatter his collar bone, and the time before that Alan tripped him over so he twisted his knee the wrong way...” Gordon fell silent when Scott raised and eyebrow.

“Let's just say it's a really rough game.” Scott said hurriedly.

“Rough isn't the word Scotty, you're either fast or your squashed into the nearest wall.”

“Do I really want to play this game?” Kayo started to sound worried.

“Grandma plays it. I've never seen anyone take a totem off her yet, see she digs her knees and elbows into places that...” he grinned as he realised he was telling her too much information.

“Don't worry Kayo, the first rounds pretty safe. If you want to keep playing when it starts getting chaotic your welcome too.” Scott grinned. 

“Just don't expect anyone to go easy on you because you're a girl.” Gordon added, getting a jab in the ribs from Scott. Scott shook his head at the disbelief that his younger brother didn't come with a mute button or at least a pause feature that allowed you to mute his mouth before he came out with trash talk. He was glad that despite the fact Gordon wasn't alone in the chatter box department, at least Alan knew what opinions to keep to himself. Gordon had absolutely no idea.

“Oh I'll be bringing it. There's no way I’d let you beat me.”

Gordon's idiotic grin returned. “That's the spirit!”

Scott tried not to laugh. He had been on the receiving end of one of Kayo's punches before and it had not been a pleasant experience. Ok at the time she missed hitting the punching bag because she was so mad, but the power behind it left Scott with a black eye for two weeks.

They made their way into the little space where the coffee table sat and Virgil and Alan were busy setting up for the first round, both on their knees at the table as being on a chair would give anyone an advantage.

“Is he coming down?” Alan asked hopefully. Alan liked when John played with them, it meant at least one person was going to challenge him to a test of speed and not muscle, something Alan sorely lacked. He had grown to be as skinny and lithe as John had, but was far more agile than his sibling. He was also heavier too, and was able to hold even Scott himself down on the floor when they had played the game long enough that alliances had been formed and it became a battle between brains and brawn.

“Should be. Give him a few minutes to get dressed.”

“How about I just go up and grab him? Would be much faster.” Virgil had a devious grin on his face.

“Won't be necessary.” John bounded down the stairs, pausing to adjust his hooded jumper.

“Why are you wearing that for? You're going to be running around, won't you get hot in that?” Gordon asked, frowning.

“I'm putting as much padding between me and you guys as possible if we're going to go ahead with this charade.” John said, sitting down on the floor next to Alan. “You guys leave bruises that last for months.” 

“That's because your a weakling, Johnny.” Gordon teased as he sat beside Virgil.

“Never used to be.” John said as Alan gave him a high five for choosing him to sit with. “You lot all out grew me.” 

“Don't say that John, otherwise they'll outgrow me!” Scott chuckled sitting himself between John and Virgil. He picked that spot because it prevented Virgil swinging John around into the table if both of them had to make a run for it. Virgil had a tendency to grab you if you were too close to try and slow you down and Scott preferd no one leave this game night with a cracked skull. Something going wrong was always inevitable, they were all dangerously competitive when push came to shove and it wouldn't take long before it got really silly.

“Besides,” Gordon teased, “I'd love to have your height John, I hate being a short arse.”

John let himself show a hint of a smile. He may not have got the muscles, but he certainly had the height on any of them if he had to hold anything out of reach. Being almost seven feet tall did have the odd perk in games like this, but not very often. It just meant there was more of you to squish into the floorboards. Scott knew that feeling all too well, being the next in the height department. It was amazing the amount of extra bruises you ended up with when you had more surface area to jab an elbow into.

Kayo seemed pretty impressed. She rarely had been with them when they were all together talking trash to each other. It was interesting to say the least, and might have been the first time she ever saw Scott become excited about something and John smiling like a person like Alan always told her they did. It was nice to see traits in them that the other's clearly outwardly displayed all the time. She took her place between Alan and Gordon, getting an evil smile from Gordon and an uneasy one from Alan. To her it seemed like John wasn't the only one weary of this game they were about to play. Alan had broke out the bandages already and had strapped his arms up to his elbows as if he was expecting something to get sprained.

“Alright, first round rules, Totem is in the middle of the table, whoever flips the same cards as each other must compete to grab the totem.” Virgil still held his grin from before as he shuffled the cards. “If you grab the totem you give all your cards to the losing player or players in your pile. We keep going until someone runs completely out of the cards in their hand and had 'offed them onto the rest of the players.” he dealt out the cards till everyone had a large pile in their hands.

“Hey why isn't Brain's playing this?” Kayo asked quickly before they started.

“He's flown Grandma out to get dinner. Besides, this isn't his type of game.” Scott replied. 

“That's right, he just doesn't get into it.” Gordon nodded.

“They mean he doesn't get competitive enough.” John elaborated.

“And you do, John?”

“You have no idea.” John's eyes narrowed as he glanced at Gordon. “You're going down, Gordon.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Yep.”

“Bring it on, Johnny boy!” he teased, getting a wince from his older brother. He knew how much John hated being called Johnny, but at least it wasn't as bad as calling his proper name. Gordon wasn't stupid enough to get his brother that mad. John may not be strong, but he could give a good pounding when he was emotionally let off the chain.

“I thought you said you hated this game?”

“I do, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy parts of it either.” John's smile grew a little wider.

“Alright! Let's get started!” Virgil clapped his hands together.

“BRING IT ON!” Alan and Gordon both yelled excitedly.

The first round went rather well lasting a full hour, because Kayo proved she was faster than any of them in grabbing the totem from the centre of the table and clearing her whole deck first. A few times, she just missed out on having her fingers smothered to it because of over enthusiastic thumping of everyone trying to grab it at once. Gordon rubbed every tiny little victory he got in with a ridiculous dance and Scott started laughing really hard when John threw a fist pump in the air when he managed to out grab Virgil and shouted at the top of his lungs. Alan had a few quick calls, one against both John and Kayo led to them both grabbing him and ruffling his hair as hard as they could. Virgil out gunned Scott and pretended he had a pistol, shot at Scott who pretend to be die with all the dramatic sounds included and Scott had even had to occasionally give John a light shove when his brother had failed to register that they both had a match with each other.

By the end of the first round they were all laughing so hard everything in their lives didn't seem to matter except the here and now, all together having fun. The long days, the close calls, the near death experiences... all just seemed to be put on a shelf.

“Alright, time for round two!” Scott stood up as Virgil collected the cards to reshuffle them. “From this point on, all future rounds will be to these rules but with one variation. The totem can be placed anywhere in this room by the person who manages to grab it. I have it on a very special authority that Max had waxed the floors before Brains and Grandma left so prepare yourselves for some slippery fun.”

John's expression changed very quickly from happy to deadpan. “You have got to be joking?”

Scott shook his head. “Not a joke. I suggest if you don't want to slide everywhere to take your socks off. This is going to get ugly.” he handed Kayo the totem piece. “You do the honours since you won the last round.”

Kayo looked around the room, which was pretty empty but had plenty of room to place the game piece anywhere she liked where two or three people could make a dash for it and wrestle each other till someone cried uncle.

She placed it on the floor in an area that was pretty open. She wasn't too sure where else she could put it, so she shrugged, plonked it down and sat back down on the floor and picked up her pile that Virgil had sorted out, unaware of the potential chaos the rest of this game held.

A few cards down and the first double showed up. Gordon was fast off the floor and John swore, trying to untangle his legs out from under him. Both ignored the few stairs lead that out of the centre of the room's lowered sitting area, Gordon jumping on a chair to get out and John clearing the gap in one leap upward onto the wooden floor, both in a mad dash to grab the totem first. Gordon still had his socks on and slid along the floor and John made a dive for it, both landing on top of each other, scrabbling for the game piece that Gordon's foot knocked out of reach. The other's were all cheering their brothers on, Virgil and Alan clearly having a bias to one or the other and Scott just calling out to urge them both on. In the end Gordon grabbed it with John sitting on top of him and shouted, “BOOYA!” at the top of his lungs.

Kayo blinked. She had never seen anything like it before. If it wasn't happening in front of her eyes, there was no way she'd believe anyone who tried to tell her John was as bad as Gordon at this game.

John helped Gordon up onto his feet and Gordon picked the next location for the totem, up on a shelf at the edge of the room. When he came back to sit down he gave Virgil a high five and poked his tongue out at both Alan and John. Scott gave Kayo a quick glance and a devious smile. It was if he knew they'd automatically fall into an alliance with someone the second the game started to get interesting. Sometimes, Scott was a mastermind in getting his brother's to think everything they did was their own idea and Kayo was seeing it first hand. 

And other few cards, new set of doubles, this time her and John.

“Ah hell!.” John struggled to get up again, this time hot on her heels. He was quite quick, grabbing her around the waist and swinging her out the way while he reached up and grabbed the totem. He placed her back on the floor and she noticed that he was smiling a lot more than when he had got up with Gordon, as if he was relived he didn't have to be so rough with someone. Before she headed to sit back down, he whispered in her ear.

“Watch out for Virgil and Gordon when you get them. I'm not sure if they'll get really rough with you at first but give them a few turns and they won't care as long as your flat on the floor.”

“You're joking.” Kayo whispered back flatly.

John shook his head. “Alan and Scott are heavier than you are and they get thrown around like rag dolls. Please be careful.” he went off to put the totem near a book shelf on the floor before coming back to sit down.

The next one was Virgil and Alan, and Kayo got to see how hard they really played. Alan was faster off the mark and was able to clear the platform level in the same way John could with a little more effort involved, Virgil threw himself up the small stairs and when they got nearer to the totem Virgil rugby tackled Alan to the floor with a loud thud, both of them over shooting the totem and bowling into the shelf itself. Books rained down hitting Virgil on the back and Alan stretched his arm out as far as he could as he was underneath his brother's weight, but wasn't able to reach. Vigil grabbed it with ease and helped his brother up off the ground.

As Alan headed back she noticed he was rolling his shoulder, the part of him that had hit the bookshelf at full force.

“I see what you mean John.” 

“It's only just started.” John gave Alan a tag back on his hand as he sat back down and gently felt his younger brother's shoulder socket. “You're ok Alan.”

“Thanks. Felt like I got hit by a raging bull.”

“You wanted to know what being hit by a truck was like?”

“Exactly like that?”

“Pretty much with the exception of being dragged along tarmac.” John shuddered. And experience he never wanted to repeat, and one where Alan flinched every time he thought about it. She wasn't entirely sure what had happened, having to fly home the day they found out about John's little accident, but she knew when she had come back to the Island, International Rescue was in full swing and Alan was obsessively protective of his older sibling.

“Don't be so dramatic.” Gordon waved the comments of rough housing off like water off a ducks back.

“Just wait until it's your turn, Gords.” Alan mumbled.

Another pair flipped up, this time it was Scott and Gordon. Gordon grabbed at his brother who was next to him and pulled him down and clung onto him forcing Scott to drag his extra weight around until he freed himself, only to be re-tackled and beaten to the totem. On his way back to his seat he was readjusting his jeans, as Gordon had managed to pull on them so hard the belt buckle broke. Gordon was doing a bit of a victory dance before he decided on the next spot to put the totem.

More card flips and another pair. Both John and Scott struggled to get up, one due to his long legs, the other due to his pants trying to fall down and make a dash for the totem. Scott tripped and flung his arms out to grab anything to stop himself from falling, unfortunately it happened to be the hood of John's jumper and they both collapsed in a heap on the floor, the totem rolling beneath the piano. There was a great amount of laughter at the two older brother's expense, and even more when they both got underneath the huge grand piano and were trying to shove each other out the way. John's arm flung out from under with the totem and then there was a loud thump as his head connected with the bottom of the piano as he tried to roll out from under it. This got a round of laughter from Gordon and Virgil and even Kayo couldn't hide her smile. It was moments like these that reminded her that the two eldest of her adoptive family were human and also had the clumsy case of the stupids every now and then. Scott helped his brother out from under the instrument and gave him a hug and pat on the back as his younger brother rubbed his head. Scott was grinning like an idiot however and laughed when he spoke.

“Don't go knocking yourself out of the game so early ok John?” he ruffled John's strawberry blonde hair since his brother was still bent over and he was able to reach. “It doesn't count it you take yourself out of the game.”

“Doesn't it? Ah well better luck next time, hey Scott?” he grabbed his older brother around the waist and lifted him off the ground for a few seconds before having to put him down. It was a little reminder that John wasn't going to easy on him next time, and that he was still strong enough to keep playing.

Alan got the next two lots, The first against Kayo and it was pretty much a race of who was the fastest, Alan clearly didn't want to have to tackle anyone to the ground if he could out run them. The second was against Gordon who sandwiched him against the wall that hung their portraits to prevent his younger sibling from getting anywhere near the game piece.

After about three hours, it was clear who was winning the game. Gordon and Virgil had been pretty good at keeping the steals from them to a minimum, although Kayo had managed to out run them to avoid being crushed alive when she was up against either of them, and Scott had managed to take a few, but they were almost unstoppable, both being able to throw their weight around. John and Alan on the other hand had the most difficulty against them so had tried focusing on their other match ups, however in John's case his energy levels were a lot lower than Alan so he ended up with more cards than anyone else, which had the unfortunate side affect of him being stuck having to get up almost every second or third turn. Scott cheered when he started to play a bit more clever, kicking the totem under chairs and once under the fridge so he and Virgil had to move it to be able to claim victory, however it still didn't seem to get him any further ahead.

Gordon was down to his last few cards, and if John could grab the totem, Gordon will no longer be able to win the game, giving the win conditions more towards Kayo or Scott's favour.

The cards were down, John was up before Gordon had realised there was a double, his head already in 'gloating over everyone' mode as he had a habit of celebrating things prematurely. Gordon was just as quick, grabbing John's hood and pulling him backward so John skittered the totem under their dad's desk with his right hand before he hit the floor, both brothers sliding into it, Gordon slamming John's back against the hardwood. Stuff on the desk jumped in the impact and things fell, but that didn't stop Gordon getting to his feet and running around the other side to grab the game piece.

“VICTORY IS MINE!” he started to do a stupid little dance, something he had been preparing in his head the moment he discovered he was going to win the game. “WHO'S THE BEST!” he paused mid – strut when he saw the looks on the other's faces. Scott was already heading over and Alan was scrambling up and over the sofa, but not to congratulate him on the win. Gordon walked around the front of the desk and John was clutching his head, surrounded by shattered glass. There was a heavy 60's inspired radio on the floor, something their father had sitting on the desk that had a glass viewer for the dial, something that harked back to his own grandfather, the only thing Jeff really treasured, just as much as his missing wife and five sons. Surely something that hard would have made a big smashing sound as it hit the floor?

It had hit John squarely in the head, the glass dial hitting him right on the temple, the old fragile glass shattering on impact with his face.

“Don't get any closer Gordon,” John snapped. “Unless you want your socks full of glass.” he mumbled and he got up on all fours carefully so not to put his hands in the shattered pieces himself. “I really hate this game.”

“And yet you get into it as much as we do.” Gordon snorted.

“ I told you there are SOME parts I still enjoy it. It's when you take it too far I really hate this game – OW!” he hissed to try and stem the curse words that were sitting on his lips. “Great Granddad’s radio is completely busted now.”

“You've got a huge gash to your head and you're worried about a stupid radio?”

“That's older than Parker's damn Rolls Royce, it's beyond a regular antique!” John paused. “I think I'm done bonding now, can I sit out the next game please?”

Alan had slipped on some shoes, came to John's aid and helped him up the floor, carefully picking his way around the glass as John was still in bare feet. Scott had gone into the kitchen and had come back with a bag of frozen peas and once Alan was happy that John didn't have glass in his forehead, gave him the bag to apply to his face. Blood could be dealt with later, they were just relived that he didn't loose an eye.

Scott grabbed a broom and handed it to Gordon while he picked up the radio and inspected it. “Hopefully Brains can repair it, it doesn't look like it takes a specialised glass or anything.” he placed it again on their dad's desk. So much for having John join in the rest of the game night.

“So that's it then, no more games?” Kayo sounded a little disappointed.

“Pfft heck no.” Virgil stuck out his tongue. “There's plenty more, We just wanted to see John make an idiot of himself.” he grinned.

“Well you succeeded there alright.” John lay down on the couch, his head resting on Alan's lap.

“Indeed we did, although it does make the next game slightly more fun.”

“Oh? And what ones that?” Alan asked, deeply suspicious.

“We were going to play 'Survive: Escape from Atlantis.'” 

“That's not fair! Why couldn't we have played that first?” John turned his head and glared at Virgil who was still grinning.

“Because you always win. At least with 'Jungle Speed' we are all on a level playing field.”

“Ugnh.” John groaned. There was always some excuse in relation to him being a smart arse too intelligence to play their games. “We could have played ' Cosmic encounter' or 'Space Cadets' if you were that worried I was going to be too devious and cunning to play anything.”

“Well I would have suggested 'Pandemic' and assigned you the role of the terrorist, but I haven't seen the box for that since the last time we played it.”

“Don't look at me, I didn't put it away last.” Gordon stopped sweeping up for a few seconds to take in the accusing stares. “That was Scott's job.”

“Yeah uh about that... last time you were a tad too diabolical for that game, so I buried it in my room.” Scott scratched the back of his head. “Sorry but there are times where you can be far too evil. You have no idea what it's like to have all your younger siblings be far more intelligent than you are.”

“Oh I dunno Scott... I bet I can imagine it.” John smirked. This made Scott's smile return as it was coming from someone who was letting one of the youngest members of the family fuss over him because he was too exhausted to argue. “I wonder, can I put the games away tonight? I promise nothing BAD will happen to precious 'Jungle Speed'.” he said the last bit in a way that was dripping with sarcasm and intent, something along the lines of 'I'm going to throw it into the ocean the first chance I get.'

“You can tell your both related I assure you.” Kayo chuckled. “You may look nothing like each other but boy you two sound alike from time to time, its pretty uncanny.”

“I see your point. It's rather hard to find something we are all pretty even at to make it a fair game.” Scott took into account both John's and Kayo's comments.

“Scott?”

“Yes John?”

“Your epiphany is making my head hurt, start another game already.”


	4. SCOTT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> appologies for spelling, i wrote this at 4 am in the morning... when i usually get my best ideas.

SCOTT (Scott 23, Virgil 20, John 22, Gordon 19 and Alan 14 )

It had been a strange day. No, scratch that...it had been a strange night. Scott lay on his bed looking at the ceiling bathed in moon light through his window with his arms around his younger brother who's feet was dangling off the bed. Occasionally he had to squeeze his shoulder as his brother became restless to reassure him that he was still there or run his fingers though the soft reddish gold strands of his hair till he calmed down.

Grandma Tracy had checked in earlier, looking for him and was relived to find him in Scott's care. She had last saw him pacing around the house and when she tried to offer him a drink he had been shaking so much that it had spilled everywhere. She was quite surprised to see him up at all, mentioning that Scott's other siblings were all curled up on said brother's bed themselves all in a ball of arms and legs tangled in sheets. To Scott this wasn't unusual as it sounded, however having John hiding out in his own room was. It was rare that John ended up needing Scott's company on something more than just a basic human level so Scott knew that this wasn't just any social visit.

Scott had decided that since they were all on the ground at home after a few days of inactivity that they should all do some simulation exercises to keep their minds sharp. He had Brains design some worst case scenarios that were a little more difficult than usual, ones that had more ways to fail than succeed. The results, were unexpected.

Scott didn't have too many problems with his, although the realisation that the whole simulation he had was all to test his temper and sense of self control, something Scott lacked on occasion, needing his brothers to remind him he was in charge and needed to clear his head to see the job through. He had been given the choice of saving two brothers from a burning inferno where they were held at gun point as hostages, or save the other two who had been taken out by a meteor in space and were crashing down to earth into the southern Atlantic ocean. Brain said it was possible to save all of them, but Scott had tried it several times and still couldn't fathom how Brains would have put that ending in it. It was a play on one of his biggest fears, one where he was forced to choose one life over another. 

Impressed, he wanted to see how his other siblings would do when faced with their biggest fears.

Virgil, had so many in his – so many ways things could go wrong – he was surprised to find that his younger brother did really well despite not getting a 100 percent completion. In the end, brushing a tear from his cheek Virgil admitted he went through things like that every time they went out on a rescue, and while there are times you cannot save everyone you want, it doesn't mean you don't forget the mistakes you made and that sometimes, the lives of your family were worth the risk of your own failure. Scott wasn't sure what he meant by that, as he didn’t know what all the other scenarios dished out on his siblings as their deepest fears were confidential, but the fact Virgil openly said he faced his every time they went out on a mission gave him food for thought and more respect for his grounded, down to earth sibling.

Plus, it meant Scott had to remember to not be completely careless when on a rescue with his own life, because someone else would find it more important than their own too.

Gordon and Alan discussed theirs afterward in more detail, as for them their fears were pretty similar, however Alan needed to calm down quite a bit first. Being stranded out in the middle of the deepest ocean or out in the depths of space with little air supply, no hope of recovery gave both of them some ideas in how to improve things to prevent that sort of thing in future. 

The only difference was Gordon handled it a lot better than the youngest, the goofball having a more serious head on his shoulders than he cared to admit and more used to being in a situation where he knew it could go wrong rather quickly and had a few times before. For Gordon it was a case of always being prepared and knowing to stay calm which helped up his score, while Alan needed the extra reassurance and while typically got it, the fact that he was completely cut off from any communications channels - even from the use of Morse code which had saved his skin more than once in a real operation – made his score plummet in comparison.

It also made John question just how hard Scott had asked these things to be made. Alan took a while to stop crying and the sombre mood of the ever jolly Gordon had given his brother a great deal of concern about their welfare. Scott just told John he was just being overly suspicious and that he needed to teach Alan to be able to do things on his own more and not rely on the constant chatter John used to keep Alan focused in space on a solo mission. Gordon was smarter choosing not to openly mention he did the same thing with Virgil, because talking to someone was better than to yourself and panicking inside a tiny vessel where that sort of thing could get you killed.

They all waited to see what John's was going to throw out, all of them pretty certain he'd be dissecting it afterwards and take Brains aside for a chat about improvements on all of the safety protocols on all the crafts. It wasn't a secret that his scenarios usually incorporated parts of all the other ones as he dealt with all their main communications.

It didn't occur to Scott that all the worst case scenarios for the rest of them would be absolute nightmare fuel when put all together at once.

Even now, Scott couldn't quite get his head around the idea that John was scared of anything other than loosing his family. He was always an unshakable rock for his brothers, however Gordon had mentioned once that it didn't mean he couldn't get hurt. Just like everyone else, he had a weakness and while Scott wasn't too unaware of it, he had pushed his luck numerous times just like their dad used to if he didn't tread carefully enough. When Scott pressed him for more information, Gordon was tight lipped about it, avoiding the topic entirely when queried. 

Scott glanced at his brother, worry streaked in his features, clinging onto Scott's shirt. He really should have listened to Gordon when the subject had been brought up and not continued to push the boundaries to test his siblings to see how much they could cope with. He remembered their father at one stage not wanting John to have any part of the team, calling him and emotional hazard but Gordon had defended him because it wouldn't make sense not to after everything he had done to help their father get the whole thing under way.

Even Gordon and to an extent Alan would be an emotional liability in International Rescue and yet, since their dad's mysterious death, had proven they were invaluable and just as important to the team as anyone else. Even John, who Scott considered had the most important job in keeping them all in check and providing back up and all sorts of other useful things to them in an emergency had proven their father dead wrong and that he was just as needed as everyone else. Scott had even said often that he thought John did a better job at holding things together than he did as a leader.

John had sat in the simulator for a good two hours after it was over. Scott should have realised something was wrong when Brains showed him and the others the horrible scores he had gotten.

Scott pressed the communications button to the room and asked, “Are you alright in there John?”

There was the sound of really deep breathing of someone who was just calming down after a panic attack, before John's voice weakly replied to Scott's question.

“I'm sorry I couldn't hear that.” Scott's brow furrowed with concern. Virgil and Gordon had exchanged glances and Alan was nervously biting his nails. They could only imagine what was going on in there and had a better idea of what John must have been feeling inside the little room.

“Tell Brains to destroy this please.”

“Huh? Sorry John, but based on your scores in this, there's no way I can do that until you eventually get it perfect. That was the deal remember?” Scott reminded him. It was true, they had all made a promise that no matter how hard the simulations they practised were, they could never give up on them until they fully aced them so that they were prepared if the scenario ever really cropped up in real life.

“I'm begging you, please...” John sounded like he had completely broken down in there. “Please? I am never going to come out of here until you promise me I will never have to do this again.”

Scott looked at the worried faces of his other younger brothers. They heard it too. John never begged, heck John never really ever cried. Shed a tear certainly, but never ever cried publicly to his siblings as whole so openly – even after their mother went missing and their father's plane crash. Yet there he was in the holographic theatre room, completely and utterly terrified of a virtual simulator.

“We can't.”

“DAMN IT, YOU BLOODY PROMISE ME!” John shouted angrily through the com feed. “Just... fuck...I never ask you for anything, and won't ever again if you please get rid of it.” 

Outside, Alan buried his face into Gordon's side, clearly in distress listing to John's voice and Virgil had place a heavy hand on Scott's shoulder, “I think this time you need to make an exception. It sounded like he's in a really bad way in there and we can't get in until he unlocks the door from the inside to check if he's ok. If that's what it takes to get to him, then do it.” Virgil, ever the voice of reason, the one that always pulled Scott back and stopped him from making mistakes that he would regret for the rest of his life.

“I've never heard him swear before.” Gordon added, without thinking to keep the thought to himself. “How hard did Brains make his scenario? I know we get emotionally effected in them because we allow ourselves to be, we know that in a real situation we can't just shelve how we feel, if we do then we'd be terrible at our jobs.” Gordon stared at Scott. “Even I think you picked ones that went too far today.”

“I've told you we are not machines.” Virgil said, as if he was repeating a conversation he had with Scott so often it made him sound like a broken record. “We have limits too. You can't repair mental damage as you can with physical, and even then you've got to be careful as there's things that can be permanent.” 

“Please.....” John's voice repeated softly. “It's bad enough I already don't sleep at night because it plays through my head.”

“What do you mean, 'Already plays through your head'?” Scott asked. “Brains only made these up yesterday!”

“The.. static.... the screams... the pain. Make it stop. I can't do anything but listen...I don't want to listen I want to help...” John's voice whispered.

Scott relented. He was beginning to think he had really hurt his brother. “I promise.” he said gently.

The door slid open and the second it did, Alan let go of Gordon and ran straight for John who was sitting in the middle of the floor, his body shaking violently as he cried. He flung his arms around the youngest Tracy and held him tight, not wanting to let go. Gordon and Virgil both gave Scott an accusing glare and Scott tried not to look at them or his two brothers on the floor. Guilt sat on his shoulders like bricks.

The rest of the day Scott spent avoiding his brothers completely, choosing to spend time in with Brains in his laboratory, mostly so he could try and make sense of what must have happened in there.

“W-well you did tell me to make them as hard as p-possible with only one positive solution S-Scott.”

“I know Brains, it's not your fault. It's mine for asking you to make them so hard. I thought we could do anything. I guess we can't.”

“W-what do you mean S-Scott? By the sounds of it, they all reacted the w-way they s-should have to the programs.”

“Well, yes.. I guess so.” Scott murmured. “I just didn't expect John to break like that. I figured he'd be the one to react the least and treat it like every other one in his stride.”

“I w-wouldn't have.” Brains pushed up his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I-Iv'e spoken to John enough to know his reaction was quite n-normal. I-I'm impressed he didn't fail it outright.”

Scott was taken by surprise. “What do you mean Brains?”

“W-well I had added a feature that recorded a-all your reactions to your own s-scenarios that would replay into Johns.” Brains admitted with a shrug. “I-I thought I'd make it as realistic as possible so I added the extra audio of a-all your panicked and s-shouting voices from your attempts before his.” he gave Scott a sideways look. “D-did I do something wrong S-Scott?”

“I'm not sure Brains... maybe. It might have been a bit too much.” Scott sighed. He had really done it, he had pushed a little bit too hard this time.

He had gone to bed long after the others had to avoid them and was just lying there thinking about how uncaring he had been. He had resolved to make it up to them all tomorrow.

He heard his bedroom door creak open and saw John's tall figure peer around.

“I'm sorry Scott, are you awake?”

“Yeah.” He sat up as John entered, closing the door behind him before walking over and sitting beside him.

“I'm sorry Scott. I just... I couldn't...” John started to say before Scott wrapped and arm around his brother's shoulders and pulled him into a hug. 

“It's ok, It's my fault. I should be the one who's sorry for being so cold about it.”

“I heard them all die Scott, even you. There was nothing I could do, all the screams and shouting... I wanted to be able to do something instead of being trapped thousands of miles away completely and utterly useless to do anything to help. The one person that I could save in it died before I got there because they ran out of air. No matter what I tried, redirecting you guys around, contacting the Global Defence Force and their lousy arrival times, trying to get Alan out of a space vacuum... nothing worked. You all died.” John hung his head, tears threatening to resurface. 

“It was my worst nightmare come to life. There are times I hate being stuck on that station, as much as I love seeing the world from above and the magic of the stars and the fun of zero gravity, when it comes down to things you all do on ground level I feel utterly useless.”

“You know it wasn't real right?”

“That's not the point. I dream about this sort of thing way too often already... it was as real as anything to me. I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of you... in the simulator I just simply took off my helmet and went for an unscheduled space walk.”

Scott held his brother tighter and rested his chin on his head as John cuddled into him.

“I don't want the other's to know. They might suspect it already, but I'd rather they didn't get told to what extent.”

“I wouldn't worry about that. It's just between us.” Scott knew he'd keep that promise, there was no telling what the other's might think if they knew if everything was lost, that John would openly commit his own suicide. Truthfully Scott knew himself and the others would do the same either in the name of self sacrifice or if they had to listen to the hell John just did today. Virgil even admitted he would to Scott's face in front of them all just a little more tactfully. He was grateful that John was too scared to have done it for real inside the holo-theater with how much it had effected him.

“Are the other's still in bed?”

This got a strangled chuckle out of his brother. “Hell no, they're asleep in my room. The reason I’m not is because I can't stop thinking about them no longer being there, even though that's counter to what's in front of my face. As much as they try to cheer me up, I can't bring myself to tell them any of this.”

“Do you ever tell them anything much?”

“Not really. They don't need me to dump how I feel onto them, they have enough on their plate.”

“Then at least come and drop the bomb on me ok? That's what I'm here for, sure I’m not as tactical as you are at solving problems but I sure as hell can listen.”

“Thank you Scott.”

Hours later from that conversation, every now and again Scott could feel his brother flinch, dig his nails into his clothes and mumble things that sent chills up Scott's spine. Sometimes Scott needed to be reminded that being a brother was more than just making sure that they were all kept safe out of harms claws, it was about being there with the safety net to catch them from falling into a deep dark abyss in which there might never be a return, same as they would throw him a rescue line when he felt the world would swallow him whole. 

Being brave can mean a lot of things, but for Scott it was admitting he was wrong about his brothers and how much they really did need one another to keep on functioning. Sometimes, that's all that counts.


	5. ALAN

ALAN (Scott 23, Virgil 20, John 22, Gordon 19 and Alan 14 )

Alan always wondered exactly what she would have been like if he got to spend time with her. He had been told so many things about her and yet she was still a mystery.

It had been another one of those close encounter rescues that resulted in at least someone with an injury, this time it was Virgil's turn. Falling down a mine shaft wasn't something he would have done it he could have prevented it, but the roof caved in underneath him as no one was aware, they had been trying to preform a rescue on a tower that had been built directly on top of it. The people in charge had not done a proper surveillance of the area and the weight of the building had forced the ground to give way into the disused mine. Now, with his leg and one arm in plaster, he was lying in a pool deck chair with a cider in his good hand, talking animatedly about some new piece of music he was going to play once he could get both hands on the keys of the grand piano in the living room.

Alan had been listening to him quietly in the chair next to him, it was interesting how he talked about music and art. It was also what tied Virgil to their mother. The tiny little drops of information Virgil gave him about her were valuable, as so little about her was ever said from most of his brothers, and even less from their father when he was still around. He loved their mother so much it hurt to have anything that reminded him of her around the house. There were tiny exceptions of course, because the boys couldn't entirely forget her, nor could John and Gordon help the fact they almost looked like her the older they got.

“That's the point though Alan,” Virgil said excitedly, “Art is subjective and can mean tons of things to one person and absolutely nothing to another. So can music. That's why we all don't have the same tastes, likes and dislikes.”

“I think I understand.” Alan's brow furrowed. “But that doesn't explain the point of 'Dadaisum.'”

“Art can be anything and everything?” John looked up from his book for a brief second only to reach for his book mark.

“But how can it be anything and everything at the same time? It doesn't make any sense.”

It was at this point Virgil went into lecture mode. There was visible groan from John, and a 'oh come on!' from Scott who was sitting on the pool side with his legs in, drinking a bottle of bourbon. Alan didn't care, if he understood the concept, he might be able to understand a lot of other things, since Virgil always told him 'art imitates life' and vice versa. It never hurt to try and understand why his brothers had these interesting and varied views on things.

“Art is just pictures and weird shit.” Gordon threw in his own two cents. 

“Says the uncultured spawn in the water.” Vigil interrupted his tangent to insult his sibling.

“I call it like I see it.” Gordon swam over to the pool edged and rested his arms on the side. “Now real beauty, if you want to see it in action Allie, is watching a pod of whales with their calves swimming through the ocean, each mother singing a different song to her baby.”

“Like I said, art is subjective.” Virgil started to snort with laughter.

Gordon stuck out his tongue. “I'm sorry I find nature more beautiful than a stupid ugly painting or a sculpture.” Gordon then smiled as if someone had attempted to mugged him in the street dressed as a pumpkin. “Mum knew what it was all about, she spent months at a time under the sea studying the ecosystems and the creatures and what lies so far down we haven’t even discovered it yet.”

“She also spent a lot of time with us while dad was doing things in space for NASA.” Scott reminded him.

“She still did tons of research though.” Gordon wasn't about to be dismounted off his high horse just yet. “I remember all these stories she'd tell about the stuff they did on the undersea research station and how the most beautiful sound she had ever heard was the song of a humpback whale, the opera singers of the ocean deeps.”

“I remember her drawings and the songs she made up on the spot while trying to teach me the piano.” Virgil seemed to be lost in memory lane too. “Quite talented our mum.”

“Don't forget brave.” Scott added. “Remember when the space ship dad was on was involved in a meteor storm that knocked it out of orbit and sent it crashing back into earth? We didn't hear a thing about how he was or what had really happened till she was certain she had all the facts and had never once doubted he would survive. She always had a brave face about it until he stepped foot back in the door of the house. I remember him buying this place to build the house so she could always check on him while he was in space and be able to work close to home, surrounded by the ocean.”

“She was amazing.” Virgil smiled dreamily. 

Alan looked at his bare feet. “She sounds it.” 

Scott stood up and walked over to the portable training dummy he brought down with him earlier in the day and gave it a few good jabs with his fists. “Courage and spirit and a strong will and the ability to keep us all under control. There's no one who could have done it better.” a few more jabs and round house kick, before Scott decided he's have another drink. He clearly didn't feel too up to exercise after today. He sat down and tapped the bottle against John's leg who looked at Scott rather annoyed. “Lazy lump, why don't you ever say anything when we talk about mother?”

“Because,” John stood up, stretching himself out. His singlet hanging really loose off his body, showing parts of a half destroyed tattoo of the first space ship he ever flown down his back. “You already know what I'm going to say.”

“We don't read minds, space cowboy.” Virgil threw and empty cider can at his older brother who didn't catch it, instead looked at the litter as if it had defiled his personal space.

“This is ground control to major dork, come in major dork.” Gordon teased.

“That's because you all talk about her as if she's dead.” John sighed. This made Alan look up at him along with everyone else.

“John, she's always been dead. There was no way anyone would have survived the way the Star Ocean began to fall apart.” Virgil straightened in his seat, looking a tad uncomfortable. “Just because they never found any bodies on that underwater research station doesn't mean she's been alive this whole time.”

“Depends on your definition of being alive.” John picked the can up and placed it on a patio table along with his novel.

“Oh that's right,” Gordon started to rub his words in, cutting pretty deep into the skin. “You didn't ever cry once about her being gone did you? Even at the funeral with all the families of the missing present, you didn't shed a single tear. Funny how I used to assume you were heartless after that.”

“I'm not a heartless bastard.”

“Of course your not, but when you're eight years old, you don't understand that.” Gordon kept verbally poking the bear. “It's just I don't know... sometimes, heck most times you come across as a hollow tree stump of a person emotionally. We know that isn't true, but other people tend to mention it every time they meet you.”

“I've often wondered about that myself.” Virgil added curiously. “Out of all of us, you should have been the one balling your eyes out for months.”

“Can we change the subject please?” John clearly had enough of being put into the spotlight. Whatever his reasons for him not wanting to talk openly in front of the others had to be important to him Alan thought to himself. He knew that John in fact did cry, just not when anyone else could see it and unknown to the rest of them, still did now and then.

“At least you guys have memories.” Alan said quietly.

“Oh that's right, you were only a baby! I'm sorry Alan.” Gordon slapped himself on the forehead. “I forgot how much that'd have to suck for you.”

“Gee, thanks Gords.” Alan rolled his eyes. “I still think you guys are all lucky to have got to spend time with her. What I don't understand is, why don't you all have the same memories of her? The way you all talk it's as if we all had a different mother!”

John walked over and got on his hutches in front of Alan and spoke with words full of serenity, “Because just like art, one person can mean many different things to many different people. You may think you have one face that looks out onto the world, but the truth is you have many that make up who you are as a person, determine what you do, who you speak to and how you react to things.”

He glanced at Virgil for a minute, then at Scott and flicked a sigh in Gordon's direction, subtle hints instructions getting them to shut up and listen without saying a word.

“For Virgil, she was a creative genius. The master of many skills and passions. For Scott she was a strong and brave lady who knew more than she ever let us know and could face many great dangers and fears life could throw at her, For Gordon she was a mysterious and fun teller of fiction, magic and wonder and for dad, she was his most loved person in the whole world, the most precious thing that could never be replaceable.”

He then lifted Alan's chin to make sure he had his little brother's full attention before poking him in the chest. “To me, she never really left. I still see her everyday in everyone's interests, passions and actions. Also, just being around you helps.” and with that he stood up and walked back towards the house, leaving four siblings looking confused in his wake.

Gordon pulled himself out of the pool and shook his head. “We are related to him, how?”

“Just when I think he's making some sense, he makes us all confused and stupid.” Virgil frowned.

“I get it... no wait...” Scott tilted his head this way and that as if he was thinking about it. “Nope, he's still an enigma who expects us to read minds.”

Alan found himself smiling. That was John for you, always saying something to keep Alan's curiosity alive and interested, even when it completely frazzled the rest of them. He would have thought a lot less of him is he had said 'I just look into a mirror and see her' or something stupid like Gordon would have if he tried to make a speech like that. Truth was John really hated how much he looked like her because he didn't think he was worthy of being the same compassionate person of many talents she was. Alan knew that without even having to be told. You didn't need to be a mind reader to work him out, but for his other siblings, it might help to get Brains to build a translation device sometime.

He knew exactly what John meant and how he felt about it. Alan could have said the same thing, but it wouldn't have had the same amount of impact because he had never got to spend the time with their mother as they had. 

He may never get to have that time and those memories, but he had his brothers, each one of them a part of her as different as she was to others. He realised he might understand this whole 'interpretation of art' thing more than he first thought.


	6. No Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> something really short and random... had nowhere else to put it other than my little collection of thunderbird shorts.

John 48, Penelope 49.

John stood staring out the window of the hospital ward, Next to Lady Penelope.

“So how many is that now?” she asked.

John looked thoughtfull. “Let’s see… Scott has three sons and a daughter, Virgil has two daughters, Gordon has both a daughter and a son and this is Alan’s first son, but he also has three daughters… so...12 so far?”

“Christmas just got messier I think all over again this year.” she rubbed John up his left arm.

“Yeah, but they are all under the age of five so it’s not that hard to get them things they’ll love.” he wrapped his arm around her waist and held her tight.

“Do you ever regret it?”

“What? Marrying you? Never. I had my chance a long time ago.”

“That was forty years ago Jonathan.” 

“Heh maybe but I’d never ask for that time back for a second. Alan’s a good dad, they all are. Maybe it’s a good thing, afterall we are the only two left who keep International Rescue functioning. It just wouldn’t be right.”

Penelope leaned into John’s shoulder and he kissed her on the forehead.

“Besides, not like I could run around after them anyway.”

Penelope laughed and John just smiled.

“No your nieces and nephews are enough as it is. Also prosthetic limbs are not cheap, especially how much you go through them.”

“As long as I don’t loose the left leg, I’m right as rain. One is enough.”

“We are getting a little too old for this.”

“Never too old for anything.”

“Hey there you two are! Alan’s looking for you!”

Both of them turned to see Gordon who was smiling like a complete and utter fool, but then again he was really proud that he was an uncle all over again. It never got old for him and his boundless energy. His and Kayo’s kids were as crazy as he was too.

“Time to be an uncle again.”

“No John, time to be a brother.”

John and Penelope followed Gordon back down the hall and into the maternity ward. “I get first cuddle Gordon, you have two of your own.”

“Always John, since when is it any other way?”


	7. Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff Tracy and thoughts

John 9, Alan 10 months, Jeff and Kyrano somewhere in their 40’s

John sat in the kitchen trying to feed his littlest brother Alan who was propped up in a high chair. Alan had just discovered he had teeth in his mouth now and was biting down hard every spoonful. Sure Alan was now capable of feeding himself, however it was a case of whether or not you wanted it in his tummy or all over the kitchen floor. John wouldn’t let anyone else do this with Alan, this was just his and his little brother’s quality time, even if it was really rather messy and mostly one sided in conversation.

Alan thumped the table every time he had the spoon taken from him and pulled faces every time he grabbed it and shoved a load of food into his mouth. Alan loved tuna bake but not today. Today, it was a funny tasting meal that he would rather throw down his brother’s t-shirt and laugh about it.

This time was special. Very little could ruin it… except for their father.

Jeff had walked into the kitchen at the other end away from the table and was talking to Kyrano as he proceeded to pour them both a drink from his brandy cabinet which was up high and out of the reach of little grabbing fingers. He was tired after a long day flying in and out and endless board meetings were weighing him down, which might have been why he failed to register his son’s presence in the same room. There were a lot of things he had to talk about with his old friend, some of which were immediately important, and some, while still fairly important, were stuff he really didn't want to discuss… but needed to because the problem just simply wouldn’t go away. Usually, it was about one of his sons.

Sure it was pretty hard to ignore a baby in the room -Alan had a tendency to be quite vocal in the presence of everyone he saw now just for attention - however Alan had gone really quiet, curiously watching his older sibling who had gone from playful with him to very restrained in one quick behavioral change.

“- I tell you Kyrano it doesn’t matter how smart the boy is, his grades are so far behind the rest of the others it’s appalling. Sure he has a lot of catch up to do, but when his grades are worse than six year old Gordon’s there needed to be something done. I had been thinking about a boarding school again, however he would be in need of serious tutoring if he was to be sent to on in the first place just to get up to speed.”

“You need to have a little faith Mr. Tracy.” Kyrano gratefully took a drink off his friend and employer. “Four years of education is a lot for a little boy who only knows how to read… which you should be proud of by the way, seeing as it was all self taught.”

“He’s left handed too. That’s going to be impossible to get him to change now.” Jeff continued, oblivious to Kyrano trying to subtly indicate said son was in the same room.

John looked at his hands and attempted to give Alan the next spoonful with his right hand. It felt wrong, but he didn’t want to have his father disappointed in him. He had been well enough the past year to spend time with his brothers and just like them, he wanted to show that he was something to be proud of to a father who he didn’t really know at all.

  
The school part had been hard. All of them were learning via correspondence and John had alot he needed to learn just to be able to do the work aimed at his year level. It meant twice, maybe three times the amount of homework the others had to do and it didn’t help his confidence to know that he was still learning to write with a pencil in his hand and had handwriting worse than his six year old sibling. Yet the only reason Scott was doing well in maths was because John would help him with his homework. John understood numbers better than he understood words, but that never stopped him try to learn everything he could as fast as he possibly can.

Alan, who was used to being feed from John’s left hand, grabbed the spoon far too easily from the right and flicked food in his older brother’s face. He wasn’t stupid, he knew when he had an advantage and would take it the second he saw it. Alan watched as his brother’s face remained impassive, then proceeded to poke his tongue out playfully the try and get his brother to laugh at him.

“You know that they say, those who are left handed are far more creative and very intelligent.” Kyrano promoted, trying to get Jeff to see the upside of having a son who was a little different to the rest.

“So far I am beginning to doubt that. I have yet to see anything that makes that theory true. The kid doesn’t even have any hobbies… or at least any that I’ve seen. No Kyrano… I think.. I think there is something wrong with that boy and he’s going to be left behind no matter what I do.”

That was when both of them heard the clatter of a dish smashing to the floor. Jeff was fast from around the bench to to pick the bowl up off the floor and give John a disapproving look. His son was on his hands and knees on the floor trying to pick the chunks of tuna bake off the tiles. When John noticed his father paying attention he tried doing it with his right hand, only to just spread the mess around. It was frustrating, but he wanted to try as hard as he could just so his father would say something nice about him at least once today.

All he got was Jeff reaching out to stop him and shoo him away. John stood up and threw what he had picked up away, washed his hands and paused as he heard his father grumble, “Honestly boy won't you do anything without making a complete hash of it? Kyrano can I please have something to clean the floor with?”

Kyrano gave John a sympathetic look before answering. “I’ll go get the mop Mr. Tracy.” and with that he left the kitchen. Before he did, he patted little John on the shoulder. “Help your father with your little brother.”

“No, I can do that myself thank you. You’ve done enough for one day. Go… go do whatever it is you have to do Jonathan. Maybe do some writing practice if you haven't got anything constructive to do.”

Jeff looked up at Alan in his high chair who had just dropped the spoon on the floor, gave his father one lone look and after deciding that Jeff wasn’t the person he wanted to be left alone in the room with, started to wail.

“John wait!” Jeff called out. His second eldest son stood in the doorway with his back towards him as he was about to head back upstairs. If he was more observant he would have noticed his son’s shoulders slumped in dejection, waiting for the next round of being told he was a worthless addition to the family.

“Come clean up your little brother please. Then go and … do whatever you want.”

John turned back around and grabbed a cloth off the bench to wipe Alan’s face. The little kid fussed, snorted and puffed out his cheeks as his brother tried to clean him up but once done Alan was all smiles, laughing and babbling at his older brother who used the same cloth to clean his own t-shirt and the bits out of his hair. Then John unstrapped his brother and started to leave the kitchen, Alan in tow.

“Where are you off to?” Jeff asked.

“To clean Alan like you asked. He’s stinky father.”

Father. John was the only one who never called him ‘dad’. Jeff couldn’t see the reason why his son had to be so weird, but then it was partly his own fault. With his son always sick he never really had much to do with him and now with Lucille gone he had to learn how to look after not just a baby, but a son he never truly felt was really his. Sure John was definitely his son there was no question about that, he recalled holding him as a premature baby in the hospital when he had his accident at NASA.

Who’d have thought the little baby that helped him through the toughest time in his life at that point would be such a distant stranger? The fact it looked like it was going to be repeated all over again with the youngest son was something Jeff was torn in two about. In one way he needed to work and keep his family safe from the outside world that wanted to harm them, but he also needed to be there to look after his sons and watch them grow up into what he hoped was respectable gentlemen. The other little part that made it a hard call was that his son that he was distant with had flourished now that his mother was gone and that Jeff was barely ever around. He could say all the negative things he liked about John’s school grades and how much slower he was to bring up to the educational speed of his older sibling Scott, the truth was without his assistance with Alan and his other brothers the past year the world he was left with would have been a more difficult thing to deal with.

Eight years of being sick, not spending time with any family and isolated from them when he was able to be around the house had in a way robbed his son of his childhood. He was far more mature than his older brother who was about to turn 10 in a few months time….and here he was looking after his baby brother like it was second nature.

To top it off Alan only ever smiled for John.

Jeff would have thought it would have something to do with how much John looked like their mother, another sticking point that made it hard for Jeff to really spend time with his second son. He was a constant visual reminder of her and it hurt every time he had to speak to the boy since he really did not have the time to grieve for her loss. The reddish gold hair, the crooked half smile, the bright hazel green eyes, the fine and lithe appearance with the grace in everything he did….

But that wasn’t why Alan saved his smiles for him and him alone. Alan was too little to remember what his mother looked like. Jeff may never know the real reason, but he knew deep down it had nothing to do with Lucille.

A little while later Jeff found them sitting together on the floor on the living room balcony, Alan sitting in John’s lap being read to from a big thick book. Jeff had no idea what it was but clearly his son was trying really hard to read something that was way too advanced for his reading level, but nevertheless plowed through and even made up words when he couldn’t pronounce them just so he could prove that he was smart just for Alan.

Jeff found himself watching, smiling as his boys bonded over something that he wouldn’t have done with his own brother all those years ago back on the farm. Back then bonding was mud fights in the pig pen, playing hide and seek in the hay barn and seeing who could spook the cows and the chickens… stuff his other sons were quite possibly doing somewhere else on the island. If only he could give those eight years back to his son…. Things might have been different…. And quite possibly as much as Jeff didn’t want to admit, he knew that in the next few years to come he was never going to fully get one either. It was rather sad to think that about someone so young, but there are times the hands of fate are hard and harsh. Maybe when he retires and gets to be a proper father to them… maybe then he’ll get his chance to finally be a kid.

Jeff walked back into his little office, wondering what the future would hold for his family and those who he knew deserved one that were not. He still had a children's hospital to build and that wasn’t going to go away any time soon.


	8. Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #NationalSuperHeroday  
> super short piece

Scott stepped into the kitchen and pulled a seat up along side John who was flicking through pictures of his holo phone. they were of a beautiful red headed lady, her smile glowed and made the images come alive. most of them had her with little kids in the picture and only one of them had a Alan as baby.

"You alright John?" he asked.

"Sorry Scott, all this talk about super heroes and then... about dad being a hero and Grandma talking you all up..." John swiped his hand through the holograms and they vanished. "Sorry I'm letting it get to me. I'll come back up stairs to watch the movie with you all in a minute... I just-"

"Needed time with mum?"

"Yeah.... I know dad is the big hero in the family and you guys are living breathing heroic life savers of the world.... but she was and always will be mine, even if she wasn't famous or have superpowers."

Scott put an arm around John and squeezed him tight. "She's my hero too. how she juggled all of us before Alan was born, I'll never know. we were terrors back then, keeping us all under control... that's a super power all in itself."

John let out an amused snort. "I guess so. there's more than just that though Scott. her voice and her smile... all were powers in their own right. God... I really miss mum."

Scott leaned his brother into him to cuddle, to rub his back to make him feel better as tears fell. "John she's not gone.... not really. she'll always be here watching over us."

Scott thought about what had been said, and how their grandmother spoke about them as if they should be celebrated as heroes for all the work they did.... and he smiled as something crossed his mind - something that only applied to John.

"Remember when Alan wouldn't sleep and Virgil and Gordon were impossible to keep quiet?"

"Yeah... you were all monsters. I hated having to pick up after you."

"Heh yeah.... the thing is John, you stepped in and took over where mum left a huge hole in our lives... those were really big shoes to fill even back then - and you still do every now and then - just on a bigger scale. They may never realise it.... but I'm going to say it for them on their behalf as I also feel credit should be given where it's due."

Scott gave John an uplifting smile. "John, you are a real hero, even if it's a quiet one like mum used to be. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Sure dad was famous and we're all the ones doing all the hard work but you're the one who takes the calls, the one who has to talk to them while help is sent out, the one who we all talk to when things upset us, the one who gives the warmest cuddles when we need to feel safe and the one who always looks after us when we are all at home. You are a real hero John." he gave his brother a squeeze.

John patted Scott on the back. "Nice try Scotty, but you guys are the heroes. Ask anyone you've saved the lives of. I'm just the customer support line." He stood up and headed back up stairs to rejoin them for the film. 

Scott noticed that he had left his phone behind and opened up the pictures to have a look at them himself. One he liked the most in the collection wasn't of anyone else but of himself and his brother holding up the three diplomas he had gotten in astroscience, astrophysics and literature - subjects he managed to take all in the same year as they never once clashed with one another. Scott remembered that day fondly, Dad was on Moon base Shadow Alpha for his last ever Colony mission, Virgil was busy getting ready for exams, Gordon was in the middle of his HSC in High school and Alan was too young to stay up so late. John almost didn't go to collect them as he saw no point if there was no one to see that he achieved something that everyone said would be impossible for him. Scott pulled as many strings as he could with the Global defense force unit he was stationed with and eventually managed to go and sit at the dinner table with his brother while they called up all the graduating students by name to retrieve their diplomas. John would have been sitting alone otherwise, other students bringing their whole families and filling the big tables all around the room eating, drinking and celebrating their child's success.

In the photo Scott was still dressed in his GDF dress uniform proudly standing beside John who was all shy and was wearing an ill fitting suit that looked far too big across his shoulders, but short in the sleeves. God... Scott wished the rest of them could have seen the looks on everyone's faces when John got handed three framed certificates on that stage when everyone else only got one. Mum would have been so proud - their dad certainly was, showing the picture off to everyone he spoke to in the colony he was still helping set up.

If Scott couldn't call his brother a hero in his own right or at least an inspiration... then something was wrong in this world.


	9. RECKLESS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another random one off

_I'm sorry I got reckless, I should have listened._ Scott cursed himself as his held onto his brother John tight. Hang on just a little bit longer.

He looked out into the darkness of the cave and tried to focus on the here and now, however it was beginning to get hard to do. Smog was filling the cave from the vents as the volcano let out a rumble and ash was mixing into the air. John had tried to warn him that the place was unstable but Scott was so determined to stop the rogue mining drill that he ignored his brother's pleas to give up and turn back, only to have his brother push him aside when the rocks came crashing down around them. Scott dug through the rubble desperately to get John out only to find that his brothers thermal gear was not designed to take impact hits.

The helmet was dented and smashed, the protective glass doing nothing to stop the rocks from injuring his sibling and the suit was torn open where a sharp piece of shrapnel had sliced through. Now there was nothing to protect John from the heat, smoke and ash.

This was a stupid idea, but who else was he going to bring along to try and stop that machine? Brain’s always got sick in Thunderbird one and Virgil, Gordon and Alan were needed to evacuate the people from the surrounding area. He would have too if it wasn’t for the mining company sending out a distress call about their machine that was potentially going to start a volcanic eruption. If he could stop that and get the miners out, then there would be no need to evacuate the people living around the base.

Good thing John was just taking the day off from being in space too, otherwise Scott would have had to wait around before heading off for the danger zone. His younger brother didn’t even get the chance to get into a clean uniform before Scott grabbed him and pulled him down into Thunderbird one’s area of the launch bay. He was a little disappointed that after telling John at length only a few hours prior that he needed to take a break and that Grandma and Brain’s could take any calls when he spent the time with his brothers for a change… but he needed someone who knew the ins and outs of machinery and computers, besides - if he couldn’t take Brain’s he’d take the next best thing.

John didn’t do many hands on rescues however so Scott did have to keep an eye on his sibling who was clumsy when out of his comfort zone, however John turned out to be more of a help rather than a hindrance, Scott relieved that his brother could hold his own and was already two steps ahead of him when it came to getting the miners in and out of the collapsing shaft. Score one for efficiency - something Scott knew he lacked when he worked with Virgil however John lacked Virgil’s bulk and sheer strength so it had taken them longer than expected.

One thing that did bother Scott, at least had annoyed him until now, was John’s instance on safety. Unlike he did with Virgil, Scott couldn’t ignore John when it came down to certain danger as John was a little more direct and aggressive than Virgil was at putting the point across.

Eventually Scott had enough and had stormed off ahead down into the caves created by the mining machine with John tailing behind him trying to get him to see sense that the drill was far too deep to get to without being burned alive trying to escape as the volcano had been disturbed enough that it was going to erupt, with or without the machine’s interference.

He wished he hadn’t done that now.

“Scott, we have to turn back now! The heat radiation this far down is already penetrating the suits, there is no way we can get down there without dying from heatstroke the second we reach the drill.”

John had paused against an outcrop in the cave tunnel to check the holographic interface on the arm of his suit. They had lost contact with Virgil and the others on the surface sometime ago from the helmet coms, but John’s suit was still functioning enough to be able to have a tracker going at least on his end. If they had to get out of there in a hurry he only had to ping them their position. The copper wires in his suit were too close to his skin and he could feel them burning him in the heat.

“Scott are you even listening to me?”

Scott wasn’t. He was determined as ever to get to the drill whatever the cost. He’d rather go out in an epic failure for at least trying, than giving up and going home.

The ground beneath him rumbled and he lost his balance.

“What was that John?” Scott called back, expecting an answer to be something else for his brother to complain about.

“I’d love to say an earthquake, but I’m sure that’s the volcano itself.” John hissed. “It’s going to go into meltdown with us stuck inside it!”

“Your being over dramatic.” Scott rolled his eyes

“Your being pig headed and suicidal, but I’m supposed to keep my mouth shut about that right?”

“John we have to stop that machine, otherwise this place will erupt and take out all those towns and villages across the coast of Indonesia.”

“Hate to remind you again Scott, it’s already going to erupt regardless!”

“There’s a small chance it won’t. You’re such a worry wart John, we’ll stop it otherwise we’re not International Rescue!”

John slid down to where Scott stood and spun his brother around. “Don’t you get it? We can’t stop this from happening this time! But if we get back to the surface maybe we can help save lives with the evac!”

“I'm doing what dad would do, and that’s see the mission through to the end!” Scott snapped.

“Yeah and what did it do to him? Face it Scott, the machine is a loss but we can still prevent people from dying.”

“You take that back John.”

“Take what back? The reason dad’s been missing for a year? Are you seriously going to have this discussion right now when we’re being microwaved!?”

Angrily Scott pushed his brother out the way before moving forward. He was determined to stop that thing even if it was going to kill him. He wasn’t sure why he was so focused on stopping the thing, maybe it was to shut John up or maybe it was the fact Scott was in denial about trying to fill their father’s shoes that he was now gone.

The cave tunnel shook again and Scott was face to face with the ground shielding himself from falling rocks and debris. Something had pushed him hard from behind before the rockfall.

Scott tried his wrist com only to get static. He pulled his brother closer so he could try and assess the full extent of John’s injuries. He noticed that something was blinking on and off on the holographic intercom that was on John’s torn sash, however there was no way Scott knew how to use it… unless..

Scott checked his brothers wrist where the other holographic interface was flickering in and out. Due to the extra power John's suit required, Scott wasn’t too surprised that it was still functional. Getting a clear signal would be impossible though, as they were too far from the surface.

John stirred in his arms. “Sorry Mum…” he mumbled.

“Sorry Mum?” Scott repeated out of surprise, however John wasn't lucid enough to question anything he may have said. Scott did have some idea though, as John was the only one in the family to take after her and while he loved their dad, John never really bonded with him after their mother had died. There were many reasons for John being up in Thunderbird Five but one of the less obvious ones that Scott knew about was it stopped his brother chasing after them into danger just like their mother did if their father was doing something extremely dangerous and sadly that's what ended her life.

It's amazing how one accident can change a person's perspective, and their father didn't want another repeat of that day with any of his sons.. however that didn't really stop John or anyone else winding up in trouble - danger, adventure and stupidity ran in the family and even Scott had just proved he wasn't immune to the last one.

Scott carefully removed the shattered helmet and replaced it with his own one, exposing his face to the smoke and ash. At the very least he could stop John from suffocating on the toxic air that was now surrounding them that might be laced with traces of sulphur now the volcano was nearing eruption. The air was a super heated thick smoke so to try and avoid coughing up his own lungs, he buried his head into his brother's uniform while he clutched onto him tightly.

Scott knew he pushed too far this time and it was going to have devastating consequences.

 _Stay with me John. I’m sorry I was so stupid._ Scott could feel heat stress washing over him, tiredness and lethargy sinking into his muscles. As he started to slip into unconsciousness he started thinking about an argument he had with Virgil weeks before where John tried to step in and stop it.

_“Look Scott all I’m saying is you can’t do this all on your own. You’re not dad, you never will be so stop acting as if everything’s at stake and is sitting squarely on your shoulders.”_

_“But that's the thing Virgil, it IS all on my shoulders. If something goes wrong it’s not you that gets chewed out by the GDF of the world council it’s me. I’m the one who’s responsible for making sure we don’t screw up and end up on the wrong side of the law!”_

_“There’s more than just you in International Rescue you know Scott.”_

_“Alright knock it off! Seriously you two you're as bad as each other.”_

_“Stay out of this John, You don’t see the almost suicidal things Scott tries to do on a mission on a daily basis.”_

_“Uh.. bit hard not to when I can see everything you guys do from space… and you can be just as bad from time to time Virgil.” John frowned before letting out a heavy sigh. Scott recalled John was exhausted that day too after a really intense backlog of missions that not only had everyone run off their feet, but had him racking his brains out to keep track of it all. There was also the extra formalities that had to be lodged and sorted out afterwards and even though Scott was the one who did all the talking to the GDF, it was John doing all the tedious paperwork. Because no one saw it they forgot about it and assumed John’s job in Thunderbird 5 was a breezy one._

_“Dad did put it all on his own shoulders, but he’s not here anymore. There is four of us who can take the responsibilities he had, seven if you want Alan, Kayo and Brains to take their fair share and believe me, nothing is stopping them so far from wanting their fair share of being a part of the team with part of the responsibilities that come with it. No one asked them, but they want to.”_

_“You are not alone in this Scott, we all want to take responsibility, but you need to let us try for ourselves and we can’t do that if you keep heaping it on top of yourself. Also, Virgil, you need to lay off a little and maybe ask what you can do to help lift some of the pressure instead of just telling Scott that he needs to let someone else stress over everything without offering to do any yourself. We’re a team and you have to work together.”_

_“That’s easy for you to say John, but again, you’re never really here to see some of the stuff that goes on. You can say all these things but they don’t really mean anything as they don’t apply to you, so maybe you should just mind your own business from now on ok?” Virgil pushed passed John with his arms folded, shoving him out the way as he didn so. Even Virgil had his moments of being stubborn, they were few and far between and always occurred when John was supposed to be spending time with them instead of being in space._

_Scott could remember how hurt John was by Virgil’s comment. Truthfully they were all starting to say things to each other that really hurt, John wasn’t a part of any of it but he seemed to cop it all when it happened._

_“You know what you said was utter rubbish right John? You don’t expect everyone to take a piece of dad’s responsibilities. You know that no one else can do the things dad did besides me.”_

_“If you say so Scott. If that’s truly how you feel, then maybe you could have taken my place listening to the GDF council and all those other international dignitaries argue about whether or not we’re a threat to global security and if having us in operation is a risk worth while for the past six hours.” John sighed as if he was a man consigned to drowning without the hope of salvation._

_“Like you used to tell me all the time, ‘You’re not mum so don’t keep trying to fill her shoes’.. Well, just remember Scott, you’re not dad, you never will be dad and thank goodness for that. But please do me a favour and just be the brother you always had been and not try to live up to something no one can ever be. There’s only one of you Scott and I’d hate to think you have to pretend to be something you're not.”_

_“John, you know it's not as simple as that. I have to try and keep it together like he did otherwise we'd all fall apart. There is already too much at stake I can just barely handle.”_

_“Then at least give Virgil some of the burden then. I'm sure he can cope with talking to the GDF now and then.”_

_“Fine.” Scott brushed the request off. “But I doubt it will go down with him well.”_

_“Have a little bit of faith in us Scott. We really need you too.”_

_“Yeah, yeah sure.”_

_Scott remembered turning his back on John before his brother spoke again, this time sounding as exhausted as he looked._

_“Please do Scott. Right now you're acting too much like dad. We need you more than ever as the Scott I know would have far more common sense and compassion to everyone and everything around him and keep it all together just by being himself.”_

_“Sure John, but you need to stop having your little grudges against our old man too. I know you didn't get along with dad but you need to let go.”_

_“I'm trying, you're all making it so hard. I just… I just really need my brothers right now, not these weird strangers you've all become.”_

_“Strangers? Maybe it's you who needs to look at yourself John. You're the one who seems to be the stranger around here.”_

_Scott didn't even turn around to look at John after that. Right now he was wishing that he should have. His brother wasn't looking for a fight or an argument, but a plea for help._

_How could he be so arrogant and stupid?_

Scott sat up alert and looked around, his brain slowly registering that he was in his own bedroom. Virgil must have got them out with the Mole pod at some stage, however Scott was at a loss as to how he could have located them. He slowly got out of bed and headed for the hallway where Gordon and Virgil were both having an argument. They stopped once they saw Scott, however the reactions on their faces were very different to one another. Virgil didn’t look too impressed, high chance of it being due to him refraining from giving Scott the biggest verbal bashing of his life and Gordon looked rather worried, most likely because he knew what was about to happen next.

Scott raised his hand defensively to show he wasn’t looking to walk into a fight. Gordon broke the silence.

“I’m not sure if we should tell you that you’re both extremely lucky or extremely stupid.”

“Both I’m sure.” Scott replied. “How did you find us though? I couldn’t get any signals out.”

“John had the coms still open with Alan and the second they cut out we knew something had happened. Alan said the two of you were arguing before it cut.”

Virgil’s expression finally softened. “Alan wanted to leave you down there Scott. If anything I think he’d have wanted to leave all of us… he’s sick of us fighting.”

“I think the words were -” Virgil stopped Gordon from repeating the expletives that Alan had used.

“I think we all are.” Scott agreed, admittingly feeling guilty that it had to be Alan that made them see sense. “And I think we better cut John a little bit of slack too. I think he’s been avoiding us because all we do is argue and we’ve mistaken that for him being a jerk.”

“You really think that?”

“I don’t just think it, I know it. The only reason we are in operation is because he pulls all sorts of strings to cover up all the damage we tend to cause in some of the rescues. Sure alot is unavoidable, but the world council don’t see it that way. There’s more than just the Hood and the Mechanic that want us shut down indefinitely. The only reason the GDF hasn’t confiscated our technology and our home is due to John’s ability to talk us out of it.”

Scott didn't wait for a reply, leaving his two brothers in the hall, he walked to the end and stepped into John's room, something he hadn't done in quite some time. It was partly due to it being the only place John had to himself in the house but mostly now because he was hardly ever in it.

memories of the last time flooded his mind as he walked around and sat in the end of the bed, his brother bandaged and asleep, his face far more paler than usual. he gently brushed his hair from his face, something their mother would have done if she was still alive.

The TV-21 got blown up that day and everyone was disappointed in losing dad's plane, even Alan who was too little to have memories of it. John spent most of the time they were all talking being quiet and it didn't take long before Gordon opened his big mouth about it. Virgil then added his two cents reminding everyone about John's disagreements with their father till their mother was mentioned and that's when the conversation went down hill. Alan didn't know her at all being a baby when she died and when Gordon and Virgil admitted they didn't remember her much John was fast in excusing himself from the conversation and left for his room.

Scott left the conversation too after listening to badly recalled memories of a woman both himself and John were close to and wound up in John's bedroom, his brother looking at an old family photo, taken before Alan was even considered being born.

_Scott sat beside him and his brother handed him the photo before cuddling the sheets up over his knees. Scott eventually broke the silence._

_“Still miss her huh?”_

_“mmhmm.”_

_“I miss her too, just as much as I miss dad.”_

_“Alan never got to know her….” John mumbled._

_“Yeah. Virgil and Gordon seem to have forgotten her….”_

_“I don't want to forget her Scott.”_

_Scott put his arm around John and held him tight. “I know you won't John. I promise I won't either ok? she loved us and meant alot too.” Scott wasn't lying about himself then either, being around John was a living reminder of her that you couldn't ignore, his brother being the only one to look and behave like she did._

Right now he was ashamed of what he had done.

“I should have listened. It was a fool's folly but I honestly thought we could reach it. I don't think the words ‘I'm Sorry’ could ever take any of that back.”

John’s head moved a little and he flinched before mumbling. “Sorry Mum….I tried.”

Scott looked confused. John had been muttering about her before he passed out inside the volcano. “Tried what?” he asked quietly, hoping his brother's sleep-talking would reveal the answers.

“Tried to keep him safe….I broke my… promise….”

Scott’s expression softened. John must have promised her something in the same way he promised their dad to watch out for his brothers. Up till now he didn't realised he had been failing to do so.

It even sounded like it was the exact same promise.

He kissed his brother on the forehead. “You were just doing your job… like I should have been. Just rest now and maybe somehow I'll make it up to you.”

He pulled up the nearby desk chair and sat on watch, hoping to be present when John came to so he could attempt to apologize and patch things up with him. Afterall, Scott was nothing without the support of his brother's and he needed to start being there for them too.


End file.
